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Olympics Eating London Farmland

February 13, 2007, 12pm PST

100-year-old plots of organic farmland in east London are in line to be bulldozed to make room for development of facilities for the 2012 Olympics -- a four-week-long event.

"People of all ages, ethnic groups and social classes come here to garden, cook, eat, swap plants, share food, barbecue and party. Eighty plots feed 150 families all through the summer. All organic, no food miles, no packaging. They have a farmers' market, plant sale and schoolchildren from the stinking inner city come here to learn where food comes from. It's a small but shining example of what life could be like."

"But bad luck, it's in the middle of the Olympic site, so it's going to be bulldozed and turned into a concourse between stadiums for 2012. A hundred years of allotment for four weeks of pathway. Imagine the scene last week - the tranquillity of the snow-clad allotments, surrounded by monster diggers and cranes waiting to gobble it up."

"But there is a Legacy Plan. The allotments can come back after the Olympics. Just like that. No, the allotments can't be designed around or incorporated. Why not? Can't they stay and show how green England aspires to be, then be part of the regeneration/parkland afterwards? No. Because there's another reason for razing it to the ground: security, according to our mayor."